Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill

Much like when The Social Network was first announced, Moneyball doesn't seem like compelling drama on it's face. When David Fincher's Facebook movie was in it's earliest stages, the biggest challenge was in convincing people that the origins of the networking site, a lot of which revolved around people sitting around writing code, could lure audiences in. That proved to not be such an issue, but can the same be done for a bunch of old guys talking batting averages and slugging percentage? When you've got Brad Pitt starring and Aaron Sorkin writing the answer is a grand slam "yes"!

Pitt, looking more natural than he has in years, plays Oakland Athletics GM Billy Beane, adrift in a sport where the big money franchises have a crushing advantage over the little guy. After coming within a hair of making it to the World Series, the A's are about to lose their three biggest players(Jason Giambi, Jason Isringhausen, Johnny Damon) to free agency. Beane isn't content to follow by the same old rules baseball has been guided by for generations. The day of the rugged old digging up every young blue chipper they can find and hoping they survive in the big leagues is over. Beane, an ex-player deemed a "can't miss" project who missed very badly, knows there has to be a sea change. A team with a $30M budget can't carry the jock strap of a team like the Boston Red Sock with a bank roll over $120M.

Enter Yale economics grad and baseball whiz kid, Peter Brand(Jonah Hill). Beane is instantly floored by Brand's new system for scouting players, a plan that threatens to throw the old baseball guard out on it's butt, and possibly change the sport forever. Beane totally buys in to Brand's complicated sabermetrics system, putting his career and reputation into an immediate 0-2 count.

Don't get too excited, Star Wars fans. "Sabermetrics" isn't a math class attended by Jedi's. Fortunately you don't really need to know what it is to understand it's impact on the game. Sorkin, who also wrote The West Wing and The Social Network, is a master at "insider" talk everybody can understand. When talk turns to the potential impact of losing Giambi, it's presented by showing the impact not only on Beane, but on the city of Oakland as well. Baseball newbies have nothing to fear. Sorkin, with his usual snappy dialogue, keeps the pace brisk. 

Beane begins piecing together a team that nobody believes can possibly win. To them, he's putting together the Cleveland Indians in the classic sports comedy, Major League. It's a team of misfits doomed to fail, assembled by a washed up GM and a numbers geek. They even face more direct opposition by A's manager, Art Howe(Philip Seymour Hoffman), who flat out refuses to use the team as it was designed. He's the embodiment of the archaic way of thinking that Beane is trying desperately to fight against.

With his fashion model good looks, it's easy to forget that Pitt is an excellent actor when given the right material. Here he's at his absolute best in a role that asks him to put his natural gifts to the side and take on world weary approach. The only thing he can't hide is his screen presence, a necessity when portraying a guy trying to convince a stubborn world he's right, even though the common wisdom says otherwise. Jonah Hill might seem like an odd choice for the Brand role,  but he shines in his first real shot at showing his dramatic range. Robin Wright, who plays Beane's ex-wife, is basically wasted in the one facet of the story that is poorly presented. We only see bits of Beane's home life and the bond he has with his daughter. It's one of his driving motivations to do what he does, and yet it's almost an afterthought.

Moneyball went through a roller coaster on it's way to the big screen. Originally set to be directed by David Frankel(Marley & Me), Steven Soderbergh replaced him and had a very different idea of how the story should go, with mostly player interviews and documentary footage. Nobody dug it, and he was replaced by Academy Award nominated director, Bennett Miller(Capote). Sorkin wasn't the first writer to tackle the script, either. The decisions made turned out for the best, as Moneyball is a crowd pleasing sports drama for everybody, even if you have no clue what an RBI is.